I
There is a One-way Lane,
sometimes called Straight and Narrow,
reaching from In the Beginning
to the Eternal Throne of God.
It passes through the Garden of Eden
and the Present and the Future
into Ever Shall Be.
It is the River of Life;
it is the King’s Highway.
It is traveled by every human soul
and each soul in passing
pollutes or sweetens the waters;
each soul mars or mends the road.
In our time the channel is clearer,
the highway smoother
because of the saints
who have gone ahead.
We travel under our own power,
but our power was determined
by the influence of all those
who have traveled before us
and shaped our destiny.
We light the way with our own torch,
but our torch was lit
from the light of the past.
And the traffic moves one way only,
we can never go back
to recover losses or to mend.
II
“Away down the river,
a hundred miles or more,
other little children
will bring my boats ashore.” *
Not just your own children
who are the fruit of your body,
but each child that you touch
because the touching
makes it the fruit of your soul.
Not just children in infancy and youth,
but any child of God’s.
Not just the boats you launch,
but the boats you trim, or do not trim.
And by thought and word and deed
you rock the boats or ballast them.
The boats you have launched,
the boats you have made
with ballast and trim
may be small craft,
but like the boats of Christian seamen
in any age of simpler faith
their sails bear the cross of Christ,
their cargoes have had the blessing of God,
and you may reasonably hope
that they will weather the storms to be
and make havening harbor
on the shores of the Kingdom of Heaven.
There is a One-way Lane,
sometimes called Straight and Narrow,
reaching from In the Beginning
to the Eternal Throne of God.
It passes through the Garden of Eden
and the Present and the Future
into Ever Shall Be.
It is the River of Life;
it is the King’s Highway.
It is traveled by every human soul
and each soul in passing
pollutes or sweetens the waters;
each soul mars or mends the road.
In our time the channel is clearer,
the highway smoother
because of the saints
who have gone ahead.
We travel under our own power,
but our power was determined
by the influence of all those
who have traveled before us
and shaped our destiny.
We light the way with our own torch,
but our torch was lit
from the light of the past.
And the traffic moves one way only,
we can never go back
to recover losses or to mend.
II
“Away down the river,
a hundred miles or more,
other little children
will bring my boats ashore.” *
Not just your own children
who are the fruit of your body,
but each child that you touch
because the touching
makes it the fruit of your soul.
Not just children in infancy and youth,
but any child of God’s.
Not just the boats you launch,
but the boats you trim, or do not trim.
And by thought and word and deed
you rock the boats or ballast them.
The boats you have launched,
the boats you have made
with ballast and trim
may be small craft,
but like the boats of Christian seamen
in any age of simpler faith
their sails bear the cross of Christ,
their cargoes have had the blessing of God,
and you may reasonably hope
that they will weather the storms to be
and make havening harbor
on the shores of the Kingdom of Heaven.
— George W. Jones
From his book "Life's Journey".
Photo by Dan Hardison
Asheville, North Carolina
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* Robert Louis Stevenson from “Where Go the Boats?”
